Charles Hill
05-09-2003, 01:45 PM
I've viewed this site many times and finally realized that taking part in the forums was too good to miss.
My name is Charles Hill, and I began training in Aikido in 1990 at the Glen Ellyn Aikido Club, a part of the MAF/USAF. I moved to Japan just over ten years ago and recently moved back to the States to start Grad school. I will move back to Japan this winter.
I trained with John Stevens in northern Japan a little over a year, and have spent four and a half years at the Aikikai Honbu Dojo in Tokyo. I got married and moved to my wife's hometown, Mishima, in Shizuoka prefecture. There, I study with Katsuhiro Ishihara, seventh dan. In September 2002, I was awarded fourth dan.
I have travelled to most of the places related to the founder (next is Hokkaido and then I want to visit Mongolia.) I also study Shingon style Buddhism.
I have recently become interested in the neo-pagan movement in the U.S. which seems to have similarities to the Shinto oriented groups O'Sensei was involved with as well as Shingon.
Hi Charles,
Welcome to the AikiWeb Forums and thanks for your introduction! I hope you'll feel welcome in jumping right into the discussions going on.
-- Jun